The Small World Paradigm

     James Cook University boasts having a student body made up of around 30% international students.  From my experiences so far, I can't help but think that students from the U.S. make up the majority of those international students.  I have only been at Uni for a week and a half and have already met people who live or go to school within a one hour radius from me at home and others who go to school or live within a two hour radius of my home uni.  Perhaps most surprising is the fact that I've met multiple people who know where my school is and also know other people that go there. 
     So despite coming half way around the world, I am still surrounded by things, ideas and world-views familiar to me.  I'm finding it a bit more difficult to get immersed in this culture because of all the dominant American influences I continue to have be it from the students I am surrounded by or just from the overwhelming abundance of American media and industry that is so prevalent over here.

   Maybe it is a small world after all...but that isn't so bad, right?  It kind of paints a nice picture of the world being weaved together, everything being connected to everything else.  And maybe in the long run it will help us all understand each other and solve more world problems, because what's really hitting me know is that if something affects one place or one group of people, it will undoubtedly affect others.